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25 August 2010

It was my supreme pleasure to interview with Susan Maier-Moul, the editor of the fabulous Magazine of Yoga. I can't remember exactly how we connected, maybe it was via a comment I wrote on her site, but I was honored and humbled (and also excited!) that she asked for an interview. Talking with Susan was like talking with a sister or an old friend so I hope we can meet in person one day!

I have a lot of respect for the Magazine of Yoga. I think it's a true magazine, instead of print, online. During the Yoga Journal/nude ads debacle, people asked "what else is there?" The Magazine of Yoga will fill your yoga reading needs with authenticity, no egos, and no BS, unlike some "yoga inspired" quasi-magazine sites.

The Magazine of Yoga's tagline is "Real Life is Real Yoga." Simple, and similar to this blog's tagline "yoga is life", a quote from Krishnamacharya. In Susan's words:

"The life you’re living is the yoga you’re doing.

The Magazine of Yoga is focused on yoga as a practice of effectiveness in this world and this life. We don’t write specifically about yoga as spiritual because that would be redundant.

Life is spiritual, being you is spiritual. There’s no place you can go to get away from The Universe. Not even the office."

So check out The Magazine of Yoga and, oh yeah....read about me! We had so much to talk about that we had to do it in two parts...

After reading my interviews, this is what a yogi friend (a mantra teacher) in India wrote to me:

"...gave a glimpse into HOW MUCH DIFFERENTLY the aasanas are practiced in US. What is considered as standard practice (slowness and more time on one aasana) in Bhaarat, is a matter of much discussion and debate in the US. Here, one is considered an aasana-siddha if one can maintain that aasana for one-sixtieth of a day (ie 24 minutes) according to the paatanjala suutra "sthiram sukham aasanam". Also the mind must be focussed on the breath or the chosen chakra / diety for the entire 24 minutes."

Yoga IS different in India, as I have said all along.

So now that you've read my interviews, if there are any studios out there who would appreciate the eclectic style of this yoga renegade, feel free to contact me. I love teaching to new yoga communities! Have yoga, will travel! My original Australia teaching plans all fell apart, but I would love to visit and finally meet the yoga bloggers from Oz (you know who you are!)...hint, hint....

3 comments:

Yes! I really appreciate what Susan is doing. It's so refreshing to have a place where the focus is on the practice itself instead of all the noise that happens around it. It was a delight to eavesdrop on your conversation!

Even though many of the teachings I've been fortunate enough to learn have come from a very traditional setting (especially compared to the rest of the western yoga scene), I'm 100% certain that it is still quite different to what I'll learn when I eventually go to India.

I know it. Sure, I've probably got a better grounding than many white folk heading out on their pilgrimage to Ma India. But of course it has to be different.

And certainly the way asana is taught here in the west... well, it's quite formulaic really. There's pockets of yoga that are less so (like Shadow Yoga and what you teach) but mostly it's a set pattern. And I'm always surprised at how little focus there is in many classes on the breath!

"Congratulations on a very creative, positive, and authentic blog that represents the true spirit of the yoga journey, inner and outer. You have a vivid, natural voice and a passionate knowledge of your subject, which should carry you a long way if you choose to direct your energies toward print publication." (Anne Cushman, author of Enlightenment for Idiots)